1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a method and an apparatus for producing wiping webs such as, for example, paper towels or paper tissues which are stored in a container in such a manner as to be able to be taken out consecutively, and particularly to single-ply webs which can be properly taken out of a container.
2. Brief Description of the Prior Art
In conventional paper towels often located at toilet rooms for daily household use such as shown in FIG. 4A, each stack of thick web segments 1 (which are folded in such a manner as head portions a and tail portions b face to face closely or touch each other) are stored in a container. The stack of folded web segments are applied pressure by a spring mechanism 2 so that the head portion a or tail portion b of the web segment 1 at the bottom is pressed against a dispensing port 3 and taken out of the container one by one.
On the other hand, in conventional paper tissues such as shown in FIG. 4B, cut and interfolded thin web segments 1 are piled up and stored in a container, and either of the two end portions b of the web segments is served as a dispensing flap. When an end portion b of the top web segment 1 is pulled out of the container through a dispensing port 3, a subsequent end portion b sticks out of the container one by one.
In the case of the conventional paper-towel serving methods as shown in FIG. 4, each paper towel cannot be taken out very easily one by one, because each dispensing flap a or b does not automatically stick out of the dispensing port one by one. Even if the dispensing port 3 is situated at the bottom of the container so that the dispensing flap a or b can, hopefully, stick out of the dispensing port by its own weight one by one, the dispensing flaps do not always sufficiently stick out of the port as expected. Also, the dispensing flap of FIG. 4A tends to be torn when the end portion b of the web 1 is pinched by fingers and pulled out with a jerk.
One way to hopefully elude this problem is to fold each web segment once and then alternately interfold each flap of the folded web segments as shown in FIG. 4B. The problem (tear of web), however, cannot be entirely eliminated in this case either, although the problem is somewhat eluted when two-ply webs are used for the material sheet. However, in the case of the paper towels, where single-ply webs are folded once but not interfolded, the problem of tear of web cannot be eluted by the method of FIG. 4B. In the case of the paper tissues where a single-ply thin paper is used for the material paper, it is more difficult to employ the method of FIG. 4B.
Thus, it has been desired that an innovative and commercially practicable method and apparatus for converting sheet materials in such a way as shown in FIG. 4C be contrived as an improvement of the conventional paper conversion technologies.
After repeated studies and trials, this inventor has finally succeeded in developing such an innovative and commercially practicable method and apparatus as described hereunder.